LFU:online

Students will learn to…

(1)   apply critical theories and methodologies to an in-depth analysis and interpretation of some of Virginia Woolf’s key texts.

(2)   analyse the literary and linguistic strategies employed in Woolf’s texts.

(3)   read and interpret Woolf’s texts in the light of the social, political, and cultural context of which they are an integral part.

(4)   pay close attention to the distinct style of modernist literature as well as to distinctive aspects of modernity, modernism, modern life, and modernist aesthetics.

(5)   consider processes and strategies of adapting Woolf’s texts, including book to screen adaptation, theatre adaptations, television, animation, opera, and production issues.

(6)   write a research paper.

This course presents and discusses a selection of the most important texts by Virginia Woolf, a main representative of British and European modernism. In our close reading of Woolf’s texts, we will pay particular attention to modernism's historical and cultural contexts. Central critical concerns include the texts' narrative and metaphorical structure, their thematic and ideological aspects, and the intricate ways in which, in Woolf's fiction, the latter is often shaped through the former. The course also discusses a selection of Woolf's essays and letters, paying particular attention to her seminal contribution to feminist literary theory. Students will be introduced to the key critical debates on Woolf, featuring discussion of topics as diverse as feminism, sexuality, gender, the everyday, war, class and social structure, empire, science, and nature.

In a second step, we will look at contemporary adaptions of Woolf’s oeuvre, including book to screen adaptations, theatre adaptation, television, animation, and opera productions. Studying the processes and dynamics of adaptation and reconfiguration will help us dissect and identify the lasting appeal and relevance of Virginia Woolf’s work.

This class also includes a guest lecture/workshop by composer Zesses Seglias and/or dramaturge Olaf Schmitt who are currently working on a novel-to-opera adaptation of To the Lighthouse which will premiere at the Bregenz Festival in 2017. Students will be able to attend a rehearsal of the performance.

Students should have read Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway (1925) by the beginning of the semester.

Close readings, presentations, group work, group discussions, workshops, class debates

Regular attendance, active class participation, an oral presentation, a final written paper

·       Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway (1925)

·       Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse (1927)

·       Virginia Woolf: Orlando (1928)

·       Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own (1929)

·       Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf: The Letters of Vita Sackville-West to Virginia Woolf (edited by Louise Desalvo and Mitchell Leaska) (1985) [selection]

·       R.O. Blechman: Simple Gifts – “The Great Frost” (1977) [animation]

·       Colin Gregg: To the Lighthouse (1983) [film]

·       Patricia Hodge: Portrait of a Marriage (1990) [TV mini-series]

·       Patrick Garland: A Room of One’s Own (1991) [TV]

·       Sally Potter: Orlando (1992) [film]

·       Eileen Atkins: Vita and Virginia (1995) [play]

·       Marleen Gorris: Mrs Dalloway (1997) [film]

·       Michael Cunningham: The Hours (1998) [novel]

·       Stephen Daldry: The Hours (2002) [film]

·       Zesses Seglias/Ernst Marianne Binder: To the Lighthouse (2017) [opera]

BA Teacher Training Programme: positive completion of compulsory module 13

BA 2016: positive completion of compulsory module 10

BA 2009: positive completion of compulsory modules 3 and 16

Teacher Training Programme: VO 2: Introduction to British and Postcolonial Literary Studies

Due to substantial differences in the allocation of ECTS-Credits in various curricula (teacher training program - BA/MA English and American Studies), the requirements for this course vary. Information will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.